In general, the present application relates to an auricle-installed device and a bio-signal measurement apparatus employing the auricle-installed device. For example, the present application is well applied to devices and apparatus in typically a field in which waves generated in a biological body and propagated through the biological body are acquired as an electrical signal.
The conventional apparatus hitherto known for acquiring bio-signals such as brain waves typically employs a head gear which has a number of electrodes. The numerous electrodes of the head gear are brought into contact with the head of a medical examinee by mounting the head gear on the head of the medical examinee. Then, from the numerous electrodes, the known bio-signal acquisition apparatus acquires electrical signals each representing a bio-signal which is generated in and propagated through the biological body of the examinee.
As described above, the numerous electrodes of the known bio-signal acquisition apparatus must be brought into contact with the head of a medical examinee by mounting the head gear of the apparatus on the head of the medical examinee. Thus, not only does the medical-examination work become complicated, but the medical examinee is also placed under restrain of having the numerous electrodes brought into contact with the head of the medical examinee for long time. As a result, since the numerous electrodes brought into contact with the head of the medical examinee for long time, this could be a burden for the medical examinee, and making the examinee feels uncomfortable.
In order to solve the problem described above, an external auditory meatus electrode unit has been proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2008-67911 for fetching brain waves or the like by making use of a spring-shaped electrode which is inserted into an external auditory meatus of the medical examinee.